Ottawa’s blast to the past has Innisfail’s military veterans giving a royal thumb’s up.
Last week federal Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced the Tory government was correcting a historic mistake by restoring the "royal" designation to the air force and navy. Known for decades as Air Command and Maritime Command they will now be known by their traditional monikers, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. The army, formerly called Land Force Command, will now be known as the Canadian Army.
The royal designation was removed from the navy and air force in 1968 when the branches were renamed and brought under one central command named the Canadian Forces.
In a statement to the media last week the Royal Canadian Legion national office welcomed the announcement.
"The Royal Canadian Legion is pleased that the government is recognizing long-standing traditions that have served us well during our military history," the statement said.
The group's president, Patricia Varga, said the legion's only concern is that costs associated with the changes might eat up budgets for operations and services for members of the military. MacKay said the initiative will have “minimal” cost to the military and federal government.
At the local legion level in Innisfail most members felt the move would restore pride in Canada’s military.
“We hated it (1968 integration). The morale of the army just went down and down. They took royal off everything,” said retired Cpl. Ron Ditchburn, who served with the army’s Royal Canadian Engineers. “It took pretty close to a year to change everything. My hat patch was the last to go. They changed everything to land, sea and air. We didn’t have a choice.”
Although there was no ‘Royal’ preceding the Canadian Army name many of the monikers for the corps, divisions and regiments had that title. Ditchburn said it filled most soldiers with honour and pride.
Jim Behan, who served with the air force for nine years, said many veterans he has talked to since MacKay’s announcement are happy just to get their “RCAF” back.
“It’s wonderful, wonderful,” said Behan. “It should have never been taken away. The integration was taken too far. For many veterans it will bring back closure to this whole thing. They got their name back, and their blue uniforms.
“I think it will bring back more pride, especially for the veterans,” he added.
Retired Maj. Byron Waters, who also served with the Royal Canadian Engineers, said he believed the military did not have to go back to the full royal name. He said he would have preferred if the names of the three branches were changed to the Canadian Army, Canadian Air Force and Canadian Navy. However, he is still happy to see the change and the official end to integration.
“It is a tradition. I lived with royal for 10 years,” said Waters, who served in the Canadian military from 1957 to 1985. “Morale will improve. We will get pride in being distinct again. There was no distinction between ship driver, tank driver and airplane driver.
“There was always this friendly rivalry before,” added Waters. “We used to call the air force guys Brylcreem boys and they would call us gravel crushers. But it was always friendly. When the crunch came down we always got back together.”
